Roundtable
Alistair Reece, content
director, DBPixelHouse:
David Bulley, MD,
DBPixelHouse:
“It's really interesting
because we had quite a
different mix of people
around the table, so we
had organizers from
the commercial and the
operational end as well
as a strong presence from
agencies.
“I think I think the key
thing is for us, which
hopefully people took away,
is it's not necessarily about
the tech in itself. It's about
the content on the tech
and what that is delivering
to both the exhibitor and
the visitor. But it was an
interesting conversation
around tech. And I think
there was an admission, if
you like, from the organisers
that they can certainly do
more around investing in
their events.
“As I said in the meeting,
if you think of a tradeshow
being a sort of microcosm
of a perfect market where
you have willing buyers and
willing sellers, the key thing
is each of those different
types of people getting
what they want. So, from a
visitor's point of view, it may
well be information, because
that's why they're going to
54 — April
the show. And then for the
exhibitor, it's about getting
in touch with that visitor
about the information they
want. It should be quite a
simple thing to arrange. I
think for the organiser its
beholden to them not to take
any of that for granted and
that they need to provide
an overall experiential
experience for the visitor
too. It’s important because
the visitor will remember
it, and they will come back.
Trade shows, where they've
been around for quite a long
time, tend to get a little bit
stale. That’s when you get
competitive shows rising up
out of nowhere because they
have been able to leapfrog
your event in terms of
experience.
“One of the reasons we
have this space is to show
them what is possible for
their events. We had an
agency here a couple of
weeks ago who brought
down 25 people from
their designers to their
commercial side. And we've
done similar things with
organisers as well, so they
can see the possibilities of
what's out there.”
“The main areas where
organisers get involved
are with the content,
the software and the
technology and that's the
baseline requirement for the
attendees too. So things like
wayfinding the matching of
delegates with brands, but
also delegates with delegates.
And then there is the kind of
more experiential side and
I think that's what we got
out of today. The organisers
want to push and challenge
themselves to make their
show and their brands more
experiential. And that's
where we fit in, or where
we think we might fit in
with them, because what we
can do is create a really big
standout experience that you
can see from afar and then
delve into that information
and detail on the messaging
underneath it.”
“I think I think
the key thing is
for us, which
hopefully people
took away, is it’s
not necessarily
about the tech in
itself. It’s about
the content on
the tech and what
that is delivering
to both the
exhibitor and the
visitor. ”